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churn ; we guessed at the coloring and salting ; we did 

 not weigh the butter, but guessed we got our weights 

 all right. After awhile we guessed this guessing didn't 

 pay. You see we read the papers. We churned by 

 hand, using a "boss" churn. After much discussion 

 among the younger members of the family, one of the 

 boys bought us an old horse-power and made the neces- 

 sary arrangements to churn by horse-power ; the rods 

 were coupled directly to the churn, so there was no 

 belt to slip. It was with much interest and great 

 expectations we made arrangements to churn the first 

 time ; the family gathered, even to our aged German 

 grandmother, who declared with an ominous shake of 

 the head that "by-and-by the men and horses would 

 do all the work." 



Old Barney, who had been considered a quiet, steady 

 horse for twenty years or more, was hitched up and 

 the circus began. Barney was not used to this kind of 

 work ; working alone on the horse-power seemed to 

 develop a latent fire that no one dreamed of. Barney 

 started to run as though running away — the churn fol- 

 lowed suit. The spectators scattered, expecting to see 

 the churn go out through the roof, anywhere. Barney 

 stopped, and the churn stopped, too. Coaxing, blind- 

 folding and all sorts of inducements were held out to 

 Barney to do the churning for us, but without success, 

 and as Barney was the only horse on the place that 

 was safe and gentle enough for the girls to handle, 

 churning by horse-power remained a "joy in the dis- 

 tance ; " this was our most unfortunate experience. 



Another ludicrous misfortune befell us while churning 

 one warm, early, spring morning, out on the walk in 

 front of the kitchen door. For some reason the churn 

 was left standing alone for a few minutes. Suddenlv 



